


Good, Better, Best

by ClassyGreyDove (justamostlyabandonedficaccount)



Series: how many shrinks to fix a lightbulb? (less than it takes to fix me) [4]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Jealousy, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:47:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27851114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justamostlyabandonedficaccount/pseuds/ClassyGreyDove
Summary: Georgi reflects on life and love and retirement.
Series: how many shrinks to fix a lightbulb? (less than it takes to fix me) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038614
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Good, Better, Best

Georgi Popovich observes the gold medal around Yuri Plisetsky's neck.

It's a prize he's dedicated his career, his childhood, his life for, and it is worn around the throat of a boy who has never known anything less than the top all his life. He reminds Georgi of Viktor, in a way.

It's not that Georgi resents his young rinkmate for it. He knows Yuri worked hard for the medal, and has rightfully earned it. Viktor had too, when he was still competing. It's just that Georgi...has never been first. Has rarely ever been _second._ Yuri Plisetsky and Viktor Nikiforov, on the other hand -

It bites.

He has wasted his childhood in ice rinks, hotels, and dance studios, and while he loves to skate, his dedication towards an extremely competitive and unconventional career means that childhood friends, meaningful relationships, and nostalgic memories of home are all foreign concepts to him.

And for his efforts?

Georgi is good. Always good. Good, but…not quite good enough. He is good at many things, better at some, but the best?

…It does things to a man, for his efforts and hard, dedicated practice to be dismissed in favor of bigger and better things.

Georgi knows he has never worked any less harder than his other, much more successful rink-mates, but it seems to not count for much.

Georgi will retire soon. His time is almost up in a career where age can mean the difference between the podium and obscurity. When he does retire, it will be with a collection of silvers, bronze, and the lone fake golds of smaller competitions that the true winners did not attend.

The medals don't even matter, in the end. Cold pieces of priceless but worthless metal will never hold a candle to the warmth of a lover's arms and a welcoming home.

Georgi knows that now.

In that, he had thought, at least he was not the only one who had failed.

Georgi watches from a lonely apartment as Viktor embraces his partner with excitement on screen, golden ring shining just as brightly as his heart-shaped smile.Abruptly, he shuts the computer screen a bit more roughly than perhaps was needed, before standing to head to the kitchen. He’s not hungry, but indulging a little may make up for the permanent gap between him and the top.


End file.
